One of the tasks encountered in modern warfare occurs when armored vehicles receive battle damage to armor plates covering their hulls and turrets. The armor must be repaired quickly and must be repaired effectively enough so that the vehicles can be used for combat.
We have devised a quick, effective method to attach plates to vehicle armor as an in-field, temporary repair of battle damage. The method eliminates the need for acetylene so that repairs to armor can be accomplished in battlefield areas where acetylene is not available or in areas where it is desired to avoid storing acetylene. Our method is also useful for any application where it is desired to affix a plate to a steel substrate.
A first version of our method includes fixing an iron or ferrous alloy disk at one end of a pipe. Wafers containing a reducing agent for oxides of iron are stacked in the pipe adjacent the disk. An ignited oxygen lance is inserted in the pipe and a reaction occurs wherein the wafers, part of the disk, and an adjoining part of the substrate form a weld body. This body is welded to the remainder of the disk and to the substrate, and the body is mechanically locked to both the pipe and the substrate. A repair plate is placed on the substrate so that the pipe passes through an aperture in the plate and then a fastener is placed the pipe so as to hold the repair plate onto the substrate. In the second version of our method, the plate has a cavity holding the wafers and the plate is placed directly on the substrate before introducing the oxygen lance into the cavity. Then metal from the end of the adjacent the substrate, material from the wafers and material from the substrate form a weld body in the same manner as described previously.